


Stay

by queen_scribbles



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Goodbyes are hard, found home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 19:05:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14677518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: It's a good feeling to have somewhere you consider home





	Stay

**Author's Note:**

> For prompt fill #38

 

It was good to have a place she considered home. Her first one was lost to the mists of time and twenty years of slavery, a vague memory she couldn’t even be sure was real.  She’d fantasized about what her home might have been like enough times, she couldn’t remember how much was true memory versus embellishment by a starved and beaten child. And the pirate ship definitely hadn’t been home, by _any_ stretch of the imagination.

Caed Nua, though. That felt like home. Emiri ran one hand along the wall as she meandered her way to the library. Part of her wanted to be alone, to mope if she was honest, the other part hoped someone would be in there. Feeling sorry for herself would be a waste of a perfectly good day. She’d just never been fond of goodbyes.

Aloth looked up from his book as she pushed open the door and smiled sympathetically. “You look like you should have a little rain cloud hovering over your head.”

“Well, it’s accurate,” Emiri said as she slouched in the chair next to his. “That’s the one problem with putting down roots; people leave and I can’t go with them.

Aloth closed his book and turned to face her. “I take it Kana’s on his way, then?”

She nodded, idly playing with her bracelets. “Off back to Rauatai. You’re the last one still here. Gods, I hate goodbyes.”

“Edér did settle in Dyrford,” he pointed out. “That is terribly far away.”

“It’s far enough,” Emiri replied. She picked at a loose thread in one bracelet. “I have responsibilities here. I have to stay, I can’t go haring off to visit him whenever I want.” She bit her lip, half afraid to ask her next question. “And how much longer d I have ‘fore I have to say goodbye to you, too?”

Aloth was quiet for a moment, then reached over to squeeze her hand. “A few more months, at least, if I have my way. But I will have to leave eventually, Emiri.”

“I know,” she groaned, slouching further in the chair and not letting go of his hand. “And dismantling the Leaden Key is important, I know that, too. I wouldn’t ask you to give that up. But I wish...” The words trailed off and she sighed.  “Whenever you do eventually leave, you know you can come back and visit whenever you want for as long as you want, right?”

He chuckled softly and squeezed her hand once more before letting go. “I’ve not even left yet and you’re trying to get me back.”

“The selfish part of me wants you to just _stay,_ ” she admitted. “Or to be able to go with you. Help you take down the Leaden Key. I know neither can _happen_ , but I’m already mopey on account of Kana leaving, so maybe let me wallow for a few minutes?”

“Only a few,” Aloth agreed with a smile. “Then you have to stop feeling sorry for yourself--especially over things that haven’t happened yet--and pick a book. And we can sit here together and read, enjoying each other’s company.”

 _While we have it,_ Emiri finished mentally. She was still, truth be told, nervous about his intent to dismantle the Leaden Key _alone_. But he’d made an excellent point regarding  how much she stood out, so this wasn’t something she could help him with when he did eventually leave. There was no point in worrying about it _now_ , though, and his plan for their next couple hours was a good one. “See, this is why you’re my best friend.”

“Because I know how to cheer you up?” he guessed, opening hiss book once more.

“Because you know _when_ to cheer me up as well as how,” she clarified, before folding her hands across her stomach and settling in for her few minutes of moping. Aloth let them pass in companionable silence, and then nudged her knee to let her know her time was up. Emiri chuckled softly and obliged, pushing out of her chair to go find a book.

Aloth shot her a look when he saw the cover. “Emiri.”

“What?” she protested, almost guiltily rubbing her thumb over the gilt lettering. _On the History & Culture of Rauatai_ “I have it on my mind for some reason.”

He snorted softly. “If it;s this much on your mind, I’m almost surprised you didn’t at least _ask_ Kana about going with him. He probably would have said yes.”

Emiri shook her head. “My place is here. Caed Nua. It’s... home. I have responsibilities, people depending on me. I have to stay, and for the most part I’m happy that way, much as I miss the friends not here.” She laughed.  “Besides, I have no intention of setting foot on a ship ever again. Too many bad memories to stir up. I’ll miss Kana, but it’s better this way.”

“Mm.” Despite the almost dismissive sounding reply, he looked like he understood. The two of them lapsed back into comfortable silence and spent the next several hours reading.

-o-

In the end, it was another six months before Aloth left, too. More than she’d dared hope for and still somehow not enough. Emiri stood atop the wall for a long time, staring at the spot where he’d disappeared from view.

“Well, that’s everyone,” she murmured, watching the tree shadows dappling the path. Like with everyone who’d left before him, Emiri had made sure Aloth knew he was welcome to visit if he was ever in the area, no matter what time or night or day he’d be arriving. Unlike everyone who’d left before him--except Kana, of course--Aloth promised to write.

“I can’t promise how frequently,” he clarified when her face lit up. “And it’s unlikely you’d be able to write back, but I will update you when I can so you know I’m alive.”

Emiri had nodded and pulled him into one last tight hug. “You better. And I’m going to treasure each one.”

Now, as she turned away from watching the road with a sigh, she came face to face with the fact all her friends had gone their separate ways. Part of what made the keep feel like home was gone, and she had to figure out what to do with herself now.

That wouldn’t be too hard; she could already feel the Steward’s gentle prodding in her head, shepherding her toward her list of things that needed addressing--from visiting nobles to building projects and everything in between. Emiri smiled to herself as she crossed the grounds to start dealing with things. Tasks and threats would come and go, her friends would visit and have to leave again, but she was here to stay.

She was home.


End file.
